


Drunken Lullabies

by 42hrb



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Chirping, Derek "Nursey" Nurse is Unchill, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Irish Dex, M/M, POV Derek Nurse, Pining, lots of swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-19 10:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12408978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/42hrb/pseuds/42hrb
Summary: Derek Nurse was more than a little excited for college to start, then he met his roommate.His Irish roommate.His very attractive Irish roommate.Derek Nurse was fuuucked.





	Drunken Lullabies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Leslie_Knope](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leslie_Knope/gifts).



> HUGE thanks to [Caitlin](acountrygirlsfun.tumblr.com) for the beta read. 
> 
> Title taken from a [Flogging Molly song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89NjEeHku8o)

Samwell was pretty fuckin’ awesome so far. Derek Nurse had only been there for roughly 18 hours, but still. He’d known that it would be great, had heard amazing stuff from Shitty, had loved the Taddy Tour, and he was already meshing with the team. So yeah, he’d much rather be at Samwell than Yale. Sorry mom.

Well, at least Samwell had been great until his second day on campus. The team had moved in a few days before the rest of campus because they had workouts and some unofficial practices that weren’t _technically_ mandatory, but they were totally mandatory.

On his second day on campus, Derek Nurse stumbled into his dorm room just as the sun was coming up, possibly still drunk from the night before. He needed to get at least three hours of sleep before lifting and then lunch with the team.

Instead of his room being empty like it had been when he’d left, there was a very large redhead unpacking. Nurse stopped for a second wondering if he’d accidentally taken something the night before and he was tripping, because this dude looked like he’d walked out of one of his wet dreams.   

“Uh, hey,” Derek managed to say without word vomiting or actually vomiting. He had roughly one second to be impressed with himself before his new roommate spoke.

“Aye man,” The guy stuck his hand out and Derek almost lost his mind because he was _Irish_. Irish, covered in freckles, and so hot Derek was going to die. “I’m Will Poindexter.”

“Derek Nurse,” He reached out and shook Will’s hand. It was bigger than his own and incredibly pale against his brown skin. He kind of wanted Will to put his fingers in his mouth, and wow, yep, he was definitely still drunk.

Will nodded, going back to unpacking, “I won’t be too loud, you look like you drank the bar last night.”

“Thanks dude,” Derek fell face first into his bed and shot Shitty a quick text about his roommate probably thinking he was an alcoholic before he passed out.

\-----

Derek woke slowly, his head hurt less than he was expecting, but then again he was 19. He was in his prime for recovering from benders.

He rolled over and saw that he hadn’t actually dreamt the large Irishman. Biting back a groan, Derek rolled over and looked at his phone. He had a couple texts from his sister, Farrah, and one from Shitty.

“Brah Dex’ll drink you under the table,” was all Shitty had said and Derek sighed. Who the fuck is Dex?

Finally he sat up, cracking his back as he did and stretching his arms over his head. He knew that he looked a mess, but if he was being honest he kind of was a mess so it was acceptable.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” Will looked up from where he’d been on his laptop, “I could eat the 12 apostles. Want to grab a bite before lifting?”

Derek’s brow furrowed, was he _still_ drunk, “You could eat what?”

“I’m fuckin’ hungry,” Will laughed, “Want to stop by the coffee shop on the way to Faber?”

As if on cue, Derek’s stomach growled, “I could eat. Wait, did you say Faber?”

“Yeah,” Will nodded, not elaborating. Derek was too out of it and too hungry to question him so he changed quickly and they walked out of the dorm together.

“So, you’re Irish,” Derek said, breaking the quiet as they walked.

Will snorted, “What gave me away?”

“The hair,” Derek said after a beat, “So, what brings you all the way to Samwell?”

Will looked at him like he was an idiot as they walked into Annie’s, “Hockey.”

Yeah, maybe Derek deserved that look, he should have known that. Will had said _Faber_ and most of the hockey team roomed together.

Not wanting to sound any dumber, Derek asked, “Have you met the team yet? You weren’t on the Taddy Tour.”

“Most of ‘em, yeah,” Will said after he ordered a muffin and black tea, “I was here most of the summer. I took a couple classes since I’m double majoring. I just had to go home for a few days to deal with some family stuff.”

“You missed a sick party last night,” Derek said, biting into his own muffin. Will just smirked.

“I’m sure there’ll be more.”

Most of the team was already at Faber when Derek and Will walked in, the weight room smelled like cleaning supplies, a smell that Derek was sure they’d miss after a couple days of the team sweating in there.

“Oh good,” Bitty jumped up from where he’d been stretching with Jack, “Dex is back!”

“Aye,” Will, _Dex_ , grinned, “Ma loved the cookies you sent with me.”

Bitty blushed and smiled, “I’m glad! And you’ve met Nursey.”

“Lad didn’t realize I was a hockey player,” Dex laughed, stretching his arms above his head, muscles bulging and ruining Derek’s life. He was so fucked, getting chirped was _hot_ when it had an Irish lilt.

“Fuck, you mean Nurse didn’t realize that you’re on the team,” Shitty appeared out of nowhere, slinging an arm around Derek’s shoulder, “How’d he not recognize his own d-man?”

“Am I the only one who hadn’t met or heard of Dex?”

“Yep,” Chowder bumped Dex’s fist and grinned, “Dex is the coolest.”

“E tu, C?”

“Well you know him now, that’s all the matters,” Chowder was still smiling, “All the frogs are together now.”

“Yeah, that’s totally chill,” Nursey slapped Chowder on the shoulder.

It was totally not chill.

First Derek had to suffer through Will lifting and squatting. Which was painful enough, but then Derek managed to almost drop a weight on his foot _and_ trip over a bench which cemented his place as the team klutz. And to top it off, once they made it to lunch, he had to watch Dex’s shirt pull tight across his shoulders as he ate a burger. His life was genuinely unfair.

\------

Derek had hoped it would get better when classes started, except it didn’t. Sure, he didn’t have any classes _with_ Dex so he had a little reprieve, but they still had practice together. They still _lived_ together.

Plus Dex was infuriating. He listened to shitty music, he was so high strung, he didn’t seem to understand why Nurse tensed up whenever they were off campus and a cop slowly drove by, _and_ he thought that peanut butter was gross. That in and of itself was enough to send Nurse over the edge, he practically lived on peanut butter power bars.

They were in the middle of an argument ( _it’s a fucking debate Nursey_ ) about the value (of lack of value) of small government, read: Nurse was going to punch Dex in the face if he didn’t admit that Derek was right. He could feel his chill facade slowly slipping when Ransom put an arm around both of them.

“Nursey, the dude is allowed to have his opinion on government size,” Ransom says as he looked at Dex, “But if you come into this locker room with any ‘socially conservative’ racist or homophobic bullshit, I will kick your ass myself.”

To his credit, Dex looked horrified when he said, “I’m not a racist or a homophobe. Nurse is always looking to hop on and I won’t just lie there and take it.”

“What?” Rans looked confused and Derek looked away with a laugh.

“It’s Irish slang,” Nursey explained, “Not sexual.”

“Of course it’s not sexual,” Dex laughed and Derek’s stomach dropped a little, of course it wasn’t sexual. Of course Dex didn’t think of him like that, they’re just teammates, “I’d be better trying to feed biscuits to bears than get off with Nursey.”

“I have no idea what he’s saying half the time,” Nurse sighed, letting the fight out of him, “We’re good Rans, thanks bro.”

“You sure you don’t want me to send Jack or Shitty over?”

“No,” they said in unison.

“Good,” Justin nodded and went back to his locker where Holster was waiting for him.

It was times like this what Derek was grateful for Justin Oluransi. He never let Nurse off easy, always pushed him to be better, but he would also defend Derek until the very end. It was nice, having another guy on the team who really _got_ the shit that Derek faced everyday as a black dude in a pretty fucking white sport. Rans totally had his vote for captain next year.

\-----

It was actually getting easier. Sure, Will still listened to shitty music and was a high strung ass most days, but still, easier. Derek didn’t trip over himself every time he saw Dex without a shirt, he could talk to him without starting a fight, and they really clicked on the ice. It felt like magic on the ice actually.

During the third game of the season, a couple weeks into October, Nurse got checked, _hard_ by a fucker from Yale. The guy had also dropped a couple choice words and ended with a comment about affirmative action that made Derek’s blood boil, but he wasn’t going to give the guy the satisfaction.

Dex apparently, didn’t agree with Derek’s approach. The next play he slammed the guy into the boards so hard that Nurse was sure that his ribs were bruised. But Dex didn’t stop there. He pushed off the wall for a moment and then shoved the guy again, and again, the entire time spitting venom until the ref came over and pulled them apart.

Somehow Dex only got 5 minutes in the box; it was lucky. He honestly could have been ejected.

“Don’t,” Dex was frowning at his skates in the locker room.

“Don’t what?” Derek sat down next to him, “Don’t thank you?”

“Thank me?” Dex looked up, his face slack and eyes confused.

“Yeah, it’s English. I know you speak it even if half the time when you talk it makes no sense,” Nurse bumped his shoulder.

“But, for what?”

“You know what,” Nurse sighed, “It was chill. You didn’t have to do that, but thank you.”

“I’ve got your back,” Dex nodded, “It’s what d-men do.”

Nursey wanted to say more, but that would have been incredibly un-chill of him and Dex clearly didn’t want to talk about it.

Dex got reamed out by Jack, but it ended with Jack hugging him which wasn’t exactly normal, so Nursey figured it was fine.

“Come on bro, we gotta get to the Haus before Shitty hides all the good beer,” Nursey grabbed Dex’s arm and pulled him from the locker room.

“All your beer is shitty,” Dex grumbled, which was probably true, but he allowed himself to be pulled from Faber.

Since the start of the year Nurse had seen Dex drink everyone, including Shitty, under the table. It might be a little stereotypical, but that Irish fuck could _drink_.

“Then we can drop our shit in the dorm and grab your whiskey,” Nurse grinned, “We’re celebrating the official start of our friendship Dexy.”

“Official huh?” Dex bumped his shoulder against Derek’s.

“You beat the shit out of someone for me,” Derek opened the door to their dorm, “I’d say it’s officially official.”

“If I’d have actually beat the shit out of that wanker he’d still be on the ice,” Dex’s voice was mild, but Nurse could see the anger in his eyes and the tension in his shoulders, “No one should say shit like that.”

It was not the first time that Derek had seen Will angry, not by a long shot. To say he had a short fuse would be generous, but it was the first time that Nurse had seen him righteous in his anger. It was anger that was _for_ Derek, not at Derek.

“Don’t kill anyone, who would I play with?,” Nurse joked, breaking the tension that had filled the room.

“If your long showers are any indication, you play just fine by yourself.”

Nursey’s jaw dropped, “If this is what your friendship is, I take it back.”

“Too late,” Dex laughed, deep and rich, “If you try to take back a friendship with an Irishman we sic a leprechaun on you.”

“Not chill dude,” Derek laughed. If this was friendship with Dex, he was totally and completely fucked.

\------

If Nursey had thought living with Dex pre-friendship was bad, it was _nothing_ compared to how hard it was to live with friend Dex.

Teammate Dex woke Nursey up with his loud Irish rock music before morning lift. Friend Dex threw a pillow at Nursey, but then made a pot of coffee to share. Teammade Dex chirped Nursey, but didn’t go out of his way to hang out with him. Friend Dex made sure he and Nurse went to dinner together so he could chirp him all the way to the dining hall.

But the biggest difference was the sharing. Not of just physical things, but of space and memories. Derek learned about Dex’s childhood. About growing up poor in a small fishing town on the Irish coast, about being sent to live with a great uncle in Dublin when he was 11.

He learned how his uncle had bought Dex his first pair of new skates, skates from a real shop and not picked from a neighbor’s trash that didn’t fit right.

Nurse had a new understanding of Dex and somehow, someway he fell even harder.

And he thought that maybe Dex understood him better too. That Dex was starting to see the difference between growing up poor in Ireland and growing up black in the states. That he would never live with the same fear that Derek lived with everyday, but he could be there for him. And he was there for him.

Sure, they still bickered, disagreed on things, but Dex stopped rolling his eyes or scoffing when Derek mentioned microaggressions. He started to walk a little closer to Nursey when he saw a cop, like he could protect him, he _listened_ when Nurse talked about assholes in his class making comments about how we need to ‘get over the whole slavery thing’.

It wasn’t all Dex putting in effort though. Derek had started asking Dex about his life, not pushing when Dex clammed up. He also insisted on paying for stuff and Dex didn’t fight him on it anymore. It was like this new friendship currency they had established meant it was okay for Derek to pay with real currency because Will didn’t have much.

“Honestly, was that even English Poindexter?” Derek chirped. Dex flipped him off. In truth, Derek was starting to pick up on his Irish slang, not that he’d ever admit it.

“Of feck off, will ya,” Dex shot back, grabbing oatmeal from the buffet and a couple hard boiled eggs, “I know full well ya know what I said.”

“But it’s so fun to make ya mad,” Nurse said in a terrible impression of Dex’s accent.

“Boys,” Bitty sighed when they sat down, still bickering.

“They’re like an old married couple,” Lardo muttered to Shitty, “I swear.”

“I know a couple old Irish folk songs for weddings if you’re wanting to marry me Nurse,” Dex shot at Nursey, but his ears and neck were red.

“Only if you play them on bagpipes.”

“That’s the only way to play ‘em.”

\--------

“It’s nice to see you two getting along,” Chowder grinned at Nurse from the couch in the Haus living room, a Nintendo controller in his hand.

Derek flopped down, “He’s wearing a _snapback_. He’s got tools.”

“Well he’s fixing the oven,” Chow smirked and Derek wondered why he was his best friend, “He couldn’t do that without tools.”

“Fuuuuuck,” He moaned, “I’m so fucked.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Chowder unplugged his game, “Grab a controller, we can play Mario Kart.”

Twenty minutes later Dex flopped onto the couch next to Nursey, a grease smudge on his cheek and all sweaty.

“Gross, you’re gross.”

“You love it,” Dex laughed, leaning against Nurse and not pulling back, “At least Bitty can bake again.”

He’d never admit it, but Derek did love the way Dex invaded his space like he belonged there. Derek did the same thing to Dex, it was just a friend thing. Totally platonic. _Fuck_.

\-------

“Nurse,” Dex’s voice floated into Derek’s dream. He nuzzled further into his pillow, most of his Dex dreams were good dreams, “Nursey for fucks sake.”

“Wha?” Derek cracked one eye open, sure that sounded like dream Dex, but usually when dream Dex sounded like that it was usually sexual and this was definitely not a sex dream.

“We’ve gotta be at the bus in 25 minutes you wanker,” Will turned the lights on and Derek rolled to face him. He could smell the coffee now that his face wasn’t buried in his pillows.

“‘M not sleeping,” Nurse rolled onto the floor with a dull thud and Will laughed. It was the deep, real kind that settled warmly in Derek’s chest and made him want to listen to it all day.

“Just drink your coffee, yeah?” Will sipped his own and offered Derek his usual mug with a soft smile that he almost missed.

“Fine, but only because you asked so nicely,” Derek took his first sip of his coffee and almost moaned, it was just the way he liked it.

They made it to the bus just in time. Lardo rolled her eyes at their apologies and swatted Derek with her clipboard, “Just get on the damn bus.”

Nursey slid into a seat and was a little surprised when Dex sat down next to him.

“Chowder snores,” was the only explanation that Will offered and Derek nodded, Chow did snore like a trucker.

“Wanna watch Brooklyn 99?”

“Yeah, I gotta find out if Jake and Amy get together,” Dex yawned. Derek knew him well enough now to know that was a serious statement.

The drive to Yale wasn’t that long, just a couple hours, but both of them managed to fall asleep.

Derek woke to a flash of light and Holster grinning at them, “Bro you’re so cute.”

“Wankers,” Dex rubbed his face on Derek’s shoulder, “We’re sleeping.”

“Dex,” Derek gently nudged him, “Will, we’re here.”

“Fine,” Will blinked and gave him a sleep smile, ”You’re an alright pillow Nurse.”

“Glad to be of service,” he swatted Dex’s ass to get him out of the row and off the bus, “I call dibs on your shoulder on the drive back.”

“Seems a fair trade,” Will gave him another soft smile and Nurse was incredibly grateful that his embarrassment didn’t show up on his skin.

\-------

“My sister’s coming to visit,” Derek flopped onto Will’s bed even though his was less than 3 feet away, “Why must I suffer like this?”

“Farrah’s finally coming,” Will looked up from his textbook, “I can stay with C and you can have my bed since you seem to find it more comfortable than your own.”

“Nah, bro it’s chill,” Derek rolled so his head was on Will’s back,” I told her to bring an air mattress.”

“Alright,” Will rolled his shoulder, “Either get off or move over, I need to read and I can’t with your head on my back.”

Derek rolled off Will, “Wanna watch a movie?”

“Fuck yeah,” Will tossed his book onto Derek’s bed, ”Anything to get out of my English reading.”

“Oh come on Dexy, do your reading,” Derek chided, only half joking. It hurt his English major soul for someone to not want to read.

“Read it to me then,” Dex bumped his shoulder against Derek’s and Derek grabbed Dex’s book before pushing him back onto his stomach so he could rest his head on his back again.

“You don’t hav-”

“Shut up and listen to Poe.”

“Yes boss.”

Derek started, reading a few paragraphs, then stopped saw that Dex had settled his head in his arms, eyes closed, “Well you can’t stop now.”

“Course not,” Derek cleared his throat and kept going.

“‘Villians! I shrieked, ‘dissemble no more! I admit the deed! - tear up the planks! There, here! It is the beating of his hideous heart.”

“Well that’s grim, int it,” Dex’s voice was sleepy, eyes still shut.

“Any other stories you need me to read to you sunshine?” Derek asked, hoping he sounded like he was chirping, but his voice was soft.

“Nah, but you can keep going if you want,” Will muttered, clearly half asleep, “Like your voice.”

“Yeah okay,” Derek rolled onto his stomach so he was next to Dex instead of on him. He’d save the chirps about Will liking his voice for later. He flipped the book to _Story of an Hour_ by Kate Chopin and started to read. It had been too long since he’d read it anyways.

\-----

“Der,” Farrah walked into the dorm room after their game looking wholly out of place. She hadn’t visited yet, busy with her first year at Harvard Law School, and it was the first game that she’d made it to too.

“Did you bring the air mattress?”

“Oops,” Farrah smirked, “I must’ve forgotten it at my apartment.”

“S’cool,” Dex followed them in, “I can crash at the Haus.”

“Don’t be silly,” Farrah sat down on Derek’s bed, “You and Derek can share, you’re both adults.”

“No-” Derek started, but Dex cut him off.

“Alright, we’ll probably be tossed anyway,” He shrugged, pulling a flannel on over his white tee shirt and arms, thus ruining Derek’s life.

“See Derek, it’s _chill_ ,” Farrah grinned and Dex laughed. Yep, this was going to be a disaster.

They made it to the Haus without further incident and Derek actually managed to have a decent time even with Farrah being, well just being Farrah.

“Shitty if you hit on my sister I’ll end you,” Derek said, proud that he didn’t slur his words. Dex was on Nursey Patrol tonight, so he had his arm around Derek’s waist to keep him from tripping over his own feet or jumping onto a table to dance.

“Relax brah,” Shitty laughed, “I know that I’m a mere peasant when it comes to the Nurse siblings.”

“Oh be nice to Shitty,” Farrah laughed, “It’s not his fault we’re so good looking.”

“Hashtag flawless,” Derek said sagely, ”Right Poindexter?”

Dex laughed, squeezing his side, “You’re the best looking siblings on campus.”

“Aw Dexy,” Derek fake swooned to cover up the fact that his knees had actually gone a little weak. Then, feeling brave leaned over and kissed Dex on the cheek, “You’re handsome too, don’t worry.”

Farrah cut into their moment, “Der I’m sleepy.”

“We can roll out,” Derek said, “You don’t have to come if you’re having fun though.”

“I’m on double Nurse duty,” Will gave him a soft smile, “Can’t let you both get into trouble.”

They made it back to the dorm without any major issues and Farrah had barely changed into a pair of Derek’s sweats before she collapsed into his bed and promptly passed out. Apparently law school had ruined her tolerance, which seemed wrong.

“Don’t be weird,” Will laughed, pulling his shirt off and shucking his jeans before he crawled into his bed, “Just fuckin’ get in Nursey.”

He wasn’t going to argue with a tipsy Irishman, so he pulled his own shirt off and tossed his jeans next to Will’s before he crawled into the bed. Twin XL’s were not really built for two 6’2” guys with broad shoulders, but after a minute of Derek rolling around, Will grabbed him around the middle.

“Stop fucking movin’,” Will’s breathe ghosted over Derek’s neck, sending a jolt down his spine, “And go to sleep.”

“Right, totally,” Derek let all the air out of his lungs and tried to relax, then Dex’s terrible stubble dragged along his shoulder and Derek willed himself to not pop a boner, “Night Will.”

“Night Derek,” Will’s voice was sleepy and Derek wanted to fall asleep to that every night.

He was almost asleep, in fact he might have actually been dreaming, but it felt real. Dex’s lips, dry and warm, grazed his neck and then a soft puff of air gave him goosebumps. He was probably dreaming, and the next morning, he didn’t remember it at all.

\-----

The rest of the season passed in similar style. Derek and Dex were practically attached at the hip, but they still bickered. The rest of the team had long accepted that they’d never be like Ransom and Holster, but they made whatever it was they were work.

On the ice they clicked like Derek had never clicked with someone before, and off the ice Derek willed himself to be chill.

Except being chill around William Poindexter was impossible. Everything about him drove Derek crazy, in the best possible way most of the time. Sure, sometimes he wanted to throw Will’s radio out the window and occasionally he wanted to scream at him, but he didn’t. He was _chill._

“Bet you that Will gets laid tonight,” Holster grinned as Will chatted with a softball player at a Haus party near the end of the season. Derek thought he might be sick, but he kept his chill face on and took a long sip of his tub juice.

“Sure,” Derek nodded, “I’ll take that bet. Dexy’s a sexy guy.”

“Yeah he is,” Shitty kissed Nurse on the cheek, then Holster said, “Who wouldn’t want to hit that.”

“An idiot,” Nursey sighed, then saw the smug look on Shitty’s face, “Oh fuck off and let me pine in peace.”

“No can do,” Shitty and Holster both looked pleased as punch, “Have I given you the safe sex talk?”

“YES!” Nursey all but yelled, drawing Will’s attention, “I don’t need it again.”

Will didn’t go home with the softball girl, in fact, only person he went home with was Derek. They were back in their dorm before 2 and ended up watching Brooklyn 99 until almost 5. And maybe Will fell asleep in Derek’s bed and maybe Derek didn’t wake him up. Who’s going to tell?

\---------

Derek wasn’t that drunk. He really wasn’t, he hadn’t touched the tub juice and he’d only done one keg stand. He was determined to keep his shit together at at least one Haus party this year. Chowder was on Nursey Patrol tonight too and he didn’t want to ruin C’s night.

He was still drinking though, Shitty had handed him a PBR when he’d shown up at the Haus at 8 and he’d had a fair few since then. So it took him a second to realize the music had been shut off in the living room.

“Yo, where’d the Kesha go?” Derek asked Chowder who had just wandered into the kitchen. He was supposed to be watching Derek, how was he drunker than him?

“Bitty shut it off,” Chowder smiled, “Wanna see why?”

Without giving him the chance to respond, Chowder grabbed Derek’s wrist and pulled him into the living room. There was a small crowd a around the horrible green couch and when Derek realized why he thought he was going to be sick.

William Poindexter sat on the couch with an acoustic guitar in his hands. There was a bottle of Jameson at his feet which meant that Dex was trying to get drunk tonight. From the looks of it there was barely three shots missing from the bottle though, which was a good sign.

“Dex can you play any Beyonce?” Bitty asked, because of course he did.

Derek expected Dex to shake his head or roll his eyes, but instead he took a swig of his whiskey and situated himself better on the couch before strumming, his voice still carrying a slight accent as he started to sing [ Drunk in Love ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h3sBdVwUwo&feature=youtu.be) and proceed to ruin Nursey’s entire life.

“I've been drinking, I've been drinking/ I get filthy when that liquor get into me/ I've been thinking, I've been thinking/ Why can't I keep my fingers off you, baby? I want you, na na,” Will looked up and his eyes locked with Derek’s as he strummed, his long fingers holding the neck of the guitar like they’d held Derek in some of his dirtiest dreams, “Why can't I keep my fingers off you, baby? I want you, na na.”

The room was mostly quiet as Dex played and Derek was sure they could hear his heart beating as Dex sang, “We woke up in the kitchen saying/ "How the hell did this shit happen?"/ Oh baby, drunk in love we be all night/ Last thing I remember is our/ Beautiful bodies grinding off in that club/ Drunk in love.”

It was like Will’s voice was holding him captive in the living room. He wanted to leave, try to forget he’d learned this new thing about Dex. He wanted to throw the guitar across the room and put Will’s hands on him instead. He wanted to listen to Will sing forever. He _wanted_ too much.

He almost didn’t notice when Will stopped singing, only released from his trance when Will laughed at Bitty’s cheering, “It’s nothing, really. Just a cheap party trick I used to use at the pubs back home.”

“Doesn’t seem too cheap to me,” Shitty slapped Dex on the shoulder, “Bet you get all the ladies and gents falling all over ya.”

Dex flushed, his cheek splotching pink. He reached down and took another swig of his whiskey and extracted himself from the couch. Derek didn’t wait to see who Dex was going to talk to, just stepped into the kitchen to get another beer and escape the crowd.

To his surprise, Dex appeared in the doorway a minute later, “Wondered where you were.”

“Here I am,” Derek tipped his beer toward Dex in a cheers and took a swig of his beer, “It was a little crowded in there, you put on quite a show.”

“You heard?” Will actually looked a little embarrassed as he ran a hand over his head, “I didn’t know you were paying attention.”

“Sorry,” Derek muttered, “I didn’t mean to step on your game. It’s chill if you don’t want me to hear you sing.”

“Are you taking the piss?” Dex sounded a little mad, and Derek could do this, he could handle mad Dex, “Really? You know that isn’t it.”

Derek looked up from his study of his beer to see Dex’s intense gaze on him, “You know I don’t understand your Irish slang.”

Will laughed and stepped closer to Derek, “You do. I found your printout of ‘Irish slang terms’ when you asked me to grab your Langston Hughes poetry collection.”

“Well fuck,” Derek ran his free hand over his face, “No, I’m not taking the piss Will.”

“How the fuck do you not know,” Will stepped closer still, setting his bottle on the table, “It’s been months Derek.”

Nurse swallowed, his eyes on Will’s hands as they slowly reached toward him, plucking the beer from his grip, “I- what?”

“You’re not this daft and you’re not that drunk.”

“Am I dreaming?” Derek asked before he could stop himself.

“If we fight in your dream version of this than I’m glad you’ve at least got the right expectations,” Dex grinned and Derek’s stomach swooped. He was very close now, so close that if Derek wanted to he could count the individual freckles on Will’s face. It would take awhile, but he _wanted_ to spend all that time looking at Will.

Derek watched Dex’s adam’s apple bob as he swallowed and then he put his hands, his _hands_ , on Derek’s face, “I’m gonna kiss you now, if that’s alright.”

All he could do was nod.

And then Will’s lips were on his and Derek’s whole body felt like it was on fire and the only cure was Will’s body pressed against his.

Will’s hands found Derek’s neck and Derek’s found Will’s waist, it was like something out of Derek’s wet dreams and he didn’t ever want it to stop. But it did stop because Jack wandered into the kitchen looking for his phone.

“Oh,” was all he said before grabbing his phone and giving them an approving nod.

“Maybe we should take this somewhere more private,” Will whispered into Derek’s ear.

“I think my dorm’s empty,” Derek grinned when Will rolled his eyes fondly.

“Trying to get me into your bed, eh?” Will took his hand and they weaved through the Haus without saying goodbye. Derek had a brief memory of Dex once calling this kind of exit an Irish goodbye and he smiled even wider.

“I was thinking yours, it’s more comfortable,” Derek bumped his shoulder against Will’s, a motion that had long ago become something more than friendly.

“Using me for my bed, not chill Nurse,” but Will was grinning, his smile bright. He swiped them into their dorm and Derek laughed.

They tumbled into Will’s bed, barely taking the time to kick their shoes off, but that was the only thing they rushed into. Instead of desperate touches and hasty handjobs Will kissed every inch of Derek’s chest and neck, he ran his hands over Derek like he was a precious thing and for the first time in his life, Derek felt known.

The next morning Derek woke up to find a large Irishman in his bed and the groupchat blowing up, it was mostly a bunch of eggplant emojis.

He tossed his phone onto his own bed and rolled over, pulling Will closer.

“I hope you know that I’m still an asshole,” Will mumbled.

Derek grinned, kissing Will lazily, “I wouldn’t want you any other way.”

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](exhuastedpigeon.tumblr.com)


End file.
